The 322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

unit. Its last assignment was with the

408th Fighter Group 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

Kingsley Field Kingsley may refer to: People *Kingsley (given name) * Kingsley (surname) Places Australia * Kingsley, Western Australia Canada * Rural Municipality of Kingsley No. 124, Saskatchewan England * Kingsley, Cheshire * Kingsley, Hampshire * Kingsley ...

, Oregon, where it was inactivated on 1 July 1968. The squadron was first activated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as the 322d Fighter Squadron. It served as a training unit in the United States until 1944, when it was disbanded in a general reorganization of

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

training units. It was reactivated in 1955 as part of Project Arrow and served as a

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

unit until inactivated.

History

World War II

The squadron was first activated as the 322d Fighter Squadron in the summer of 1942 as part of

I Fighter Command I Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces intermediate command responsible for command and control of the fighter operations within the First Air Force during World War II. It was initially established in June 1941 as the 1st Inter ...

. It flew early-model Republic P-47B Thunderbolts as part of the air defense of New York in the early part of World War II. It then became a P-47D Operational training unit (OTU) in New England. It was reassigned to

III Fighter Command The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946. History Background GHQ Air Force (GHQ, AF) had been established with two major comba ...

and moved to North Carolina in 1943 as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). The squadron was disbanded in April 1944 as part of a reorganization of training units.

Cold War

The squadron was reconstituted as the 322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and reactivated in 1955 at

Larson Air Force Base Larson Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located five miles (8 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Moses Lake, in Grant County, Washington. After its closure in 1966, the airport facility became ...

, Washington. The squadron assumed the mission, personnel and aircraft of the inactivating

31st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 31 (thirty-one) is the natural number following 30 and preceding 32. It is a prime number. Mathematics 31 is the 11th prime number. It is a superprime and a self prime (after 3, 5, and 7), as no integer added up to its base 10 digits res ...

as part of "Project Arrow", an

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

(ADC) program which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars.Buss, Sturm, Volan, Denys & McMullen, p.6 The squadron was equipped with

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

equipped and Mighty Mouse rocket armed

North American F-86D Sabre The North American F-86D/K/L Sabre (initially known as the YF-95 and widely known informally as the "Sabre Dog") is an American transonic jet interceptor aircraft, interceptor. Developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s, it was ...

s. The squadron was upgraded to the North American F-86L, an improved version of the Sabre which incorporated the

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

computer-controlled direction system for intercepts.Cornett & Johnson The service of the F-86L was quite brief, since by the time the last F-86L conversion was delivered, the type was already being phased out in favor of supersonic interceptors. The squadron moved to

, Oregon in 1959 and was re-equipped with new

McDonnell F-101B Voodoo The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo is a supersonic jet fighter designed and produced by the American McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. Development of the F-101 began in the late 1940s as a long-range bomber escort (then known as a penetration fighter) ...

supersonic interceptor, and the F-101F operational and conversion trainer. The two-seat trainer version was equipped with dual controls, but carried the same armament as the F-101B and was fully combat-capable. The 322d operated Voodoos until July 1968, when the aircraft were passed to the

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia (United States), militia of each U.S. ...

and the squadron was inactivated as part of the general reduction of the

active-duty interceptor force.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 322d Fighter Squadron on 24 June 1942 : Activated on 19 August 1942 : Disbanded on 10 April 1944 * Reconstituted and redesignated 322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 20 June 1955 : Activated on 18 August 1955Lineage, including assignments, stations and aircraft through 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 395–396 : Inactivated on 1 July 1968

Assignments

326th Fighter Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, 19 August 1942 – 10 April 1944 * 9th Air Division, 18 August 1955 *

4721st Air Defense Group The 4721st Air Defense Group is a discontinued group of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with the 4700th Air Defense Wing at Larson Air Force Base, Washington, where it was last active in 1959. The group was formed to provide ...

, 1 December 1956 *

, 1 April 1959 – 1 July 1968

Stations

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People and fictional characters *Mitchell (surname), including lists of both people and fictional characters *Mitchell (given name), lists of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Ca ...

, New York, 19 August 1942 * Bradley Field, Connecticut, 1 September 1942 *

Westover Field Westover may refer to: People *Al Westover (born 1954), American professional basketball player in Australia * Arthur Westover (1864–1935), Canadian sport shooter and 1908 Olympian *Charles Westover (1934–1990), better known as Del Shannon, Ame ...

, Massachusetts, 1 November 1942 *

Seymour Johnson Field Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The base is named for U.S. Navy Lt. Seymour A. Johnson, a test pilot from Goldsboro who died in an F4F Wildcat crash near Norbeck, Maryla ...

, North Carolina, 13 October 1943 – 10 April 1944 * Larson Air Force Base, Washington, 18 August 1955 * Kingsley Field, Oregon, 1 April 1959 – 1 July 1968

Aircraft

* Republic P-47B Thunderbolt, 1942–1943 * Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, 1943–1944 * North American F-86D Sabre, 1955–1957 * North American F-86L Sabre, 1957–1959 * McDonnell F-101B Voodoo, 1959–1968 * McDonnell F-101F Voodoo, 1959–1968

References

Notes

; Explanatory Notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* Buss, Lydus H.(ed), Sturm, Thomas A., Volan, Denys, and McMullen, Richard F., History of Continental Air Defense Command and Air Defense Command July to December 1955, Directorate of Historical Services, Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1956 * * (subscription required for web access) * * "ADCOM's Fighter Interceptor Squadrons". ''The Interceptor'' (January 1979) Aerospace Defense Command, (Volume 21, Number 1) Further reading * * McMullen, Richard F. (1964) ''The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962–1964'', ADC Historical Study No. 27 (Confidential, declassified 22 March 2000)

External links

{{USAAF 1st Air Force World War II Fighter squadrons of the United States Air Force Military units and formations established in 1955 Aerospace Defense Command units 1955 establishments in the United States